Coconut Raspberry Chia Smoothie Recipe {for Healthy Skin}

Healthy fats from coconuts and chia seeds are beneficial to our skin. Not enough healthy fat in a child’s diet can lead to dry, flaky skin. One way to naturally improve the softness of skin, is to include more fats from whole foods sources like coconuts and chia seeds.

They’re called essential fatty acids (EFA) for a reason — your body needs them! And it doesn’t make EFAs on its own; you only get them from the foods you eat. Key elements in a natural skin care diet, essential fatty acids like omega-3s and omega-6s are the building blocks of healthy cell membranes. These polyunsaturated fats also help produce the skin’s natural oil barrier, critical in keeping skin hydrated, plumper, and younger looking. If you’re not getting enough EFAs in your diet, your skin may be dry or inflamed.

Both coconut and chia seeds are a good source of essential fatty acids. While many folks like to strip the coconut of all the other nutrients it’s packed with and just use the coconut oil, we prefer the whole coconut! Whole food sources of fat also contain other valuable nutrients, helping our body to use and absorb the best parts of the food.

So, this is why we are using coconut milk, flaked coconut, and soaked chia seeds. We want the most out of our fats!

For this Coconut Raspberry Chia Smoothie Recipe, we simply:

Placed 4 tablespoons chia seeds and 1 cup of water in a bowl. Place in fridge and let soak overnight.

How about letting the chia seeds soak in the coconut milk overnight? Have you done that before? I make this Coconut Chia Pudding and it calls for the chia seeds to be soaked in the coconut milk overnight, so I imagine the texture would be similar, except I’d have to blend it for the smoothie.